Grant would help make North Peace Museum more accessible

“By improving our accessibility, washrooms, and carpeting, we can modernize the museum and make it more attractive for our visitors,” says Museum Manager and Curator Heather Longworth. “Local visitors will be more likely to come back and bring friends and family to a museum that is changing with the times than to one that looks like it opened thirty years ago.

In total, an $81,000 grant has been requested, which when added to the nearly $35,000 grant from the Historical Society, brings the total project cost to more than $116,000.

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The wheelchair friendly entrance would have two doors that open with the push of the button, as volunteers currently have to open them for visitors in wheelchairs and strollers.

The washrooms would be redone to bring them up to the building code, creating a men’s washroom with two stalls and two urinals and a women’s washroom with four stalls, as well as an accessible family washroom with handrails and an automatic opening door. The current washrooms aren’t very accessible as the sinks and paper towel dispensers are too high, and there is only a baby changing table in the women’s washroom.

For its grant application, due February 7, the NPHS is looking for a letter of support from the City of Fort St. John, which City Council will decide on Monday.

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